Thursday, April 26, 2012

We have had a much needed laid back week around our house, and I am soaking it up! Taylor added a little excitement to our week by flushing her diaper down the toilet yesterday. It was not a pleasant experience and I don't ever want to see a plunger again. After a trip to Lowe's (where he said all of the workers were laughing at him) Daddy saved the day and our toilet is now flushing. She finished off the day by using my laptop as a ramp for her little horse she rides all over. There is never a dull moment around here!

We have spent a lot of time outside and at the park.

Parker insisted on getting his picture taken in the baby swing :).

This was what he did when I asked him to smile. He's standing still and looking my direction so I'll take it.

Taylor is all over the playground. She is finally at an age where I can just let them play and it is so nice!! She was not a happy camper when it was time to leave.

All of this playing outside usually means an early bedtime for the kiddos so I have had time at night to work on cookies.

I started this week with a ballerina order for the sweetest lady that works at Parker's KDO. She ordered these for her granddaughter to surprise her after her ballet recital.

Here is a closer look at some of the letters. I wanted them to be girly and sweet. I loved the way these turned out!

My next order was a milk and cookies party for sweet Elle's birthday. I was so excited when Lacey asked me to do these.

Aren't these so fun?!?! I added Elle's name to the cookies.

Next time I do these I will add a peanut butter cookie and a cookie with sprinkles.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

I am so grateful and humbled at all of the sweet texts, calls, emails and messages I have gotten from my post about Peyton. It is so amazing to me how Peyton has influenced so many lives in his short life. I am blessed to be his Mom! So, THANK YOU to everyone who responded :).

Back to some cookies :). I started off last week with a cute order for Alex's first birthday. His Mom sent me some pics of the party decorations and told me what she was thinking and we ended up with this cuteness:

She used a bunting, and cupcake toppers exactly like these so I thought it would be cute to match the cookie to the topper. These went to Brooklyn, NY and I wanted very badly to stick myself in the box and go with them! :)

I also did some more cute owls....

A baby shower.........

which included more Chevron....

and these flowers to match the invite.....

I ended the week with an "alien and eyeball" party. This stuff was so fun. I did these for a sweet friend who I have known for forever! My camera was MIA so these are iphone pics. Sorry :(.

(My hubby later found my camera in Parkers room. He was polishing up on his photography skills I guess.)

I did 3 dozen cupcakes with this order too, I am loving the nut cups that everyone is using!!!

Lastly, I love Pinterest and find a lot of my dinner recipes off of there. I saw a recipe for Monterey Chicken last week and needed something quick and easy so I tried it. Everyone loved it so I will definitely be making it again!

Monterey Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup bar-b-que sauce

1/4 cup real bacon bits

1 c. colby jack cheese, shredded

1 14 oz. can Rotel tomatoes, drained

(canned with green chiles added)

sliced green onions

pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pound out chicken breasts to flatten (I used presliced thin). Season with pepper. Grill chicken until no longer pink and place on a baking sheet covered with foil. Top each chicken breast with one Tbs bar-b-que sauce, 1/4 cup cheese, 1/4 c tomatoes, green onions and one Tbs of bacon bits. Place in oven and bake until cheese is melted (about 5 minutes).

*I used presliced chicken breasts, and I used more cheese than the recipe calls for. I omitted green onions because I have some picky eaters :).

Friday, April 20, 2012

I never dreamed I would be writing about something like this, or linking up with other Moms who have lost children, but I am. This post has nothing to do with cookies, but its everything about who I am and the journey God has taken me on to get to where I am today.

Jason and I had been married two years when we found out we were pregnant with our first baby. We were overjoyed to find out we were having a boy, decided on the name Peyton, and began to prepare for a new addition to our family. The nursery was done, I was no longer working, and we were ready.
On July 10, 2007 we went for our last regular check up before I was considered full term. It was there at the appointment in a cold quiet ultrasound room that we were told Peyton no longer had a heartbeat. I was admitted to the hospital that afternoon, and gave birth to our sweet Peyton a little after 1:00 a.m. on July 11th.
To say that we were devastated doesn't even scratch the surface of the emotional journey that began that day. The only place I knew to turn was to God and His promises. I immersed myself in Scripture and prayed nonstop. We spent the follow weeks just literally trying to survive. I remember sitting and weeping in Peytons nursery every day because that was the closest I could get to him. There are no words to describe it, and you can never understand what its like unless you have been there.

Out of all the ways God showed his hand to us while we were going through this, the most obvious had yet to come. On August 23rd I woke up at 5 a.m. extremely sick and nauseous. I called my Mom that morning and she very firmly told me "You're pregnant."
A pregnancy test later confirmed that I was pregnant. Don't do the math, it doesn't make sense. A mere 10 months and 1 day after I gave birth to Peyton, we welcomed our second son Parker into the world. I can't explain the feeling that washed over me when I heard Parker cry. He is a miracle.
Two years later we were blessed with our daughter Taylor. God is so good.

I hope my story can be an encouragement to someone who is walking through something that seems impossible to survive. I am a walking testimony of survival. God took us from the deepest pit of despair to a place in our lives where we are joyful and blessed. We miss Peyton every day, but we know that because of God's promise of eternal life for believers that we will spend eternity with Peyton in Heaven. WOW! I want my story to give hope to those that feel like there is no hope left.

I truly believe that God has brought me to this point in my life for a purpose. I believe that making cookies is my ministry. I pray that doors continue to open for me to be used however God chooses.

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth. a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord." Psalm 40

And I only think its appropriate to share the first picture I have ever publicly shared of Peyton,

"For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies."

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

I have fun doing every cookie order that I do, but there is something really fun about doing something different and out of the ordinary. When Jennifer asked me to do some Bubble Guppie cookies for her daughter Braylen who was turning 2, I was so excited!!
Bubble Guppies are a regular around our house, so I had an idea from the very beginning of what I wanted to do. I decided to do the faces of all 9 characters on a round cookie.

*For all of the decorators out there, I iced my cookie solid blue and let it dry overnight to have a hard surface to pipe the faces onto. I used tips #1 and #2 to pipe the outline for the faces.

Jennifer also wanted to incorporate some Chevron and a cookie in the shape of a "2."

I thought the combination of the three of these cookies was perfect. I loved the theme, the colors, and the chevron!!!

This little guy ended up being my favorite. I guess it was the goggles :).

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Most of my orders were out of town orders last week, so I only had 24 cookies to do over the weekend and it was GREAT! The first set of cookies was for a friend from church who was hosting a baby shower. It was for a baby boy and jungle themed.

I only did 12 cookies so I stuck to the lion and the monkey, and an argyle monogram cookie in the same print as the napkin they used.

I really like these argyle cookies :).

Next set I did was a Hello Kitty set for sweet Ava's 2nd birthday. Ava's mom Cara and I were good friends all through school and I have TONS of good memories with her. I was so happy to do these for her.

I thought these were so sweet, and perfect for a 2 year old little girls birthday!

Lastly, I ship out my first out of town order in the morning for Jaxon who is turning 4! His mom wanted me to replace the S on the Superman symbol with a J and it turned out so cute!

I have another busy week coming up and more recipes to share! Its going to be a fun week!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

I'm sorry for my lack of blogging, my Flickr account hasn't been working. Most of my pictures need edited but I have a few that can pass without being edited so I will go ahead and share those with you.

I started off this week with a few really fun orders. The first was for a Bubble Guppies party for a fellow blogger but I will wait to post pics so that Jennifer can share party details first :). The second was an "artist party." I did paint palettes and thought these turned out so cute and fun.

The third party was a vintage cowboy party and I did stick horses. I was excited to do these because it was a first.

I will share my other cookies pics when I can get them edited, but I definitely want to share this YUMMY breakfast casserole recipe I found. I was making breakfast for dinner one night when I started to open the sausage and noticed a recipe on the wrapper. I had all of the ingredients so I gave it a try! It was SO GOOD and easy!!!

Basically you take a can of crescent rolls, lay them flat and make a "pizza like crust." Next cook a pound of sausage, drain it, and cover the crust with the sausage. Next cover the sausage with a cup of cheese. I used Colby Jack because we love it. Beat three eggs, salt and pepper them and pour the egg mixture evenly over the top. Cook at 375 degrees for 19-22 minutes until cheese is completely melted and browning a bit.